Evolution's Music Creator

Thanks to Evolution's Music Creator system, it's never been easier or cheaper to turn your PC into a powerful MIDI sequencing tool. Brian Heywood gets creative...

I am often asked to recommend a keyboard that can be used with an MPC soundcard. Most cards have a MIDI In function, accessed via the soundcard's game port, so it is usually quite easy to add an external MIDI controller. There's a number of MIDI keyboards on the market that will do the job — as long as you can get a MIDI cable for your soundcard.

In the December '94 and March '95 PC Notes, I included in this column a schematic diagram of a circuit that would do the trick for most SoundBlaster types of card, but not everyone is able to take this approach. While it is a simple enough process to get an appropriate cable, it's just another complication, and when there are so many dodgy cables on the market, you can get yourself into deep water quite easily.

To simplify matters somewhat, the clever people at UK‑based Evolution Electronics have brought out two systems that solve the problem. The first of these, the Music Creator system, is based around a four‑octave keyboard with three‑quarter‑sized keys. This product represents the bare minimum that you need to be able to play music into the PC without a velocity or other MIDI controller. You can select different MIDI channels and a number of different 'fixed note' velocities (64, 90, 112 and the default of 100), but that is the limit of the controllability.

The system comes with a very basic software package called Key West Music which is essentially a simple auto‑accompaniment application. While not much use for performance or teaching/ learning situations, this compact keyboard could be quite useful for notation entry, or situations where there is very little space available.

Somewhat more interesting to the serious musician is the Music Creator Pro package, which is based around Evolution's MK149 MIDI controller. This is a four‑octave keyboard with full‑sized keys, velocity sensing and a full complement of MIDI control functions. It has both Pitch and Modulation wheels, the latter of which can be assigned to any MIDI controller message (ie. pan, breath control, expression) as well as Channel Pressure, fine tuning and Pitch Bend sensitivity. The front panel buttons allow you to select either MIDI channel, note or octave transposition (+/‑ 12 semi‑tones and/or +2 or ‑1 octave), and select between 10 velocity curves.

The MK149 keyboard can also send MIDI program and bank change messages, as well as 'Select General MIDI Mode' and 'Reset All Controllers' messages. You can also get the keyboard to remember five bank/program change messages that are available at the touch of a button. The software element is somewhat more sophisticated than the software bundled with the basic keyboard, being a version of Evolution's well regarded Procyon package, called Evolution Audio. As well as being a feature‑rich MIDI sequencer, it also has auto‑accompaniment features, and a single digital audio track for playing WAV files.

The larger of the two keyboards is really a little gem, since it has all the features that you need in a MIDI controller keyboard without costing the earth. In the month or so I've had the MK149 in the studio, two of my collaborators have decided to buy units after playing with the keyboard. The mini‑keys version of the package costs just £49 (inc VAT) while the 'Pro' version retails at £99 (inc VAT). Both units come bundled with a MIDI‑to‑soundcard cable and power supply, and can be operated off batteries. For details on where to get either version of Music Creator, contact Evolution on 01525 372621.

Striking A Chord...

One activity that will amuse guitarists for hours on end is the game, 'Name that chord'. This is especially true if you use open chords or strange tunings for your musical plan. A PC‑based utility I've come across recently can ease the pain of documenting a guitar part. Andrew Gryc's DOS‑based program, Chord Magic, allows you to 'draw' in the chord shape onto a graphical representation of the guitar fretboard, and then gives you a choice of chord names that apply. You can retune the strings, and even define a capo fret position. Strings can be muted by selecting a 'string' and pressing X, or you can use the mouse to click on the 'nut' or the capo. Alternatively, type in the chord in TAB notation to see what it would look like on the guitar fretboard.

You can also use Chord Magic to help you find a suitable voicing for a particular chord. Simply select the root and type of chord you want, and the program will check through its internal chord database to give you a suitable fingering. The program will pick the chord shape that is closest to the currently displayed fingering, allowing you to guess (or verify) a chord.

Other neat features include: the ability to superimpose a scale over the fretboard and chord display, which can be useful for working out solos; the ability to add new chords; and there is even the facility to generate a simple TAB printout using standard ASCII print codes (ideal for transmission via email). Chord Magic is shareware, so it's available to download from a number of on‑line services. I got mine from the guitar conference on CiX. To get a registered copy, send $20.00 to: Andy Gryc, Chord Magic, 1520 Springhill Road, Albany, OR 97321, USA. This gets you a bigger version of the software, which includes built‑in chords, on‑line help, built‑in tunings and a detailed manual.